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Gageunder his breath that I don’t catch

“I have a feeling that’s not entirely true,” Lucifer says, that deceptive mask of amusement on his face “However, the next time she wants to strike me, tell her to make sure I can strike her back There should always be a balance”

He turns and walks away, and I flip him off to his back

“Balance my ass If that didn’t even leave a er upper hand than I do,” I snap, feeling way too frustrated and struggling to get my temper under control

I want this entire place to burn to the ground with the Devil in it Or maybe ice would be the counter to kill the man who can withstand fiery acid

“You need to calht Manella was trying to kill us,” Kai says from too close behind me

“My poouldn’t work on hih me to hit the Devil It only works to protect you, so what does that tell you?” I growl, eyes still on Lucifer as he takes a seat in his throne and lazily lounges like he has all the time in the world to watch them die

My fists ball at o whole I al to lure me into some sort of trap

“You already tried to kill hi to tell you soer than you hen you atte closer

They’re surrounding et me to calm down?

“Why are you defending hi of betrayal

Gage actually looks a little surprised, then his eyes narrow as anger settles into his features “I’ to defuse you before you turn whole and he kills you in front of us”

If he hadn’t just admitted they’ve only kept me around for a power boost, I’d alht about now

For whatever reason, the i fury, and a weird little contented burn settles intheain

“Co in front of everyone

I have no idea why I do it, but I think of how I burned Lilith, andemotions until his pants…burst into flames

He curses, reaching down to dust the flames away, but then his pants drop like the fire broke the helares at the Geer

“You fucking assholes,” he growls

Their eyes widen, and they vanish fro after them Apparently no one in this room would have a death wish besides the two of them He vanishes too, and I smirk

Well, I just caused at least a little sibling dra their royal realm Sure, it’s minor and petty, but at least there’s some satisfaction in it

Hera steps up and takes over where Cain left off, using a tone that makes it sound like she’s terribly bored with the entire ordeal

“Ready, set, go, and blah blah,” she says with a dismissive wave of her hand

A light flashes and momentarily blinds me

Chapter 2

We’re suddenly alone in the middle of what looks like a fiery canyon The fire travels up in strea over the mountains in front of us On the other side, we have woods full of black, ashy trees and zero light

The right and left of us fades into both as they touch We’re standing in the only clearing between the two options

“Do we die in the forest or on theback and forth between both

“At least we can see death co if we climb the mountain,” Jude answers

I zap to the top of thearound, then zap back down to the No rules other than to finish the course,” I tell them “Which way is the end? We’ll just—”

“Either direction we choose will take us toward the end or in a circle, depending on Lucifer’s agenda at this point,” Gage butts in “And I’ve been trying to siphon since we got in here He’s blocked that ability somehow Maybe because we’re in the belly of hell it doesn’t work Who knows at this point?”

“And I can only do it in this for or anyone so that I can siphon theift has a downside Yet I’ift from Lilith because that’s iain